Ask Flashpoint Byblos: Razing Hell

[Ezra Thorne]

“NOO!” Millie shrieked at the top of her lungs as Ezra almost tripped from trying to avoid Vanya trucking into him. The emotions that laced Millie’s voice suggested that she was about to do something incredibly stupid. Before he could stop her, she launched herself at the creature, stabbing the thigh repeatedly with a blade in a frenzy. Black, tarry goop began to seep from the punctures, but it didn’t stop it from continuing to crush Tank.

Ezra focused on the Force, calling upon the Light side to channel it. He closed his eyes and dove into the realm of the Force and he could see the pitch black presence in the realm and he rushed towards it, forming the Light into a weapon in his hand. Improvising on the spot, he hurled the makeshift spear directly at the dark mass before him. The limbs began to flail and convulse as soon as Ezra launched his attack. The thing finally released Tank, slamming against the sides of the tunnel and scurrying up the wall and the ceiling.

“Help them!” Ezra called out to Vanya as he drew his saber and chased the creature. Tank was left a mangled mess and Millie had been thrown down the corridor by a flailing limb. Vanya would have to figure out their condition and if either were still alive.

Meanwhile, Ezra briefly disappeared, coiling the Force around the critter to try and yank it down. It wasn’t clear how long they had before more of those things began to show up.

 

[Vanya]

Vanya considered arguing with Ezra when he said to help the others instead of killing the creature, but she pushed it aside. They couldn't argue between themselves if they wanted to make it out of this place alive.

Vanya moved over next to Tank and slid to her knees, thoughts of the grody ground no longer present in her mind as she cast a hand up and threw a trio of small balls of green energy above her to light the area, swirling overhead as she peeled her goggles off so she could see in the vibrant green light above her.

She may not have been a healer by specialty, but even a brief glance at the man and her own basic training in first aid told her that he was not going to make it. Not without immediate medical attention... perhaps not at all on a planet like this. Not in the field where they had no other options. "Expectant" was the term that would be used in a military triage situation, and though Vanya may not have known this terminology, she knew the truth of it anyway.

Find peace beyond the Veil, she whispered quietly as she pushed to her feet and rushed over to check on Millie. She was wounded, but better than Tank and Vanya decided she might be able to be salvaged. Unfortunately, the blackened goo seemed to be a problem all its own as it melted through the woman's skin, forcing Vanya to quickly attempt to wipe it away before it damaged the arm anymore. As it stood, the arm was beyond repair now, and even then that didn't account for the fact that the arm seemed to be broken as well. She whimpered and hissed in pain, trashing in an attempt to get back to Tank.

Leave me alone! Help Tank! Go! Help him! the woman began to try to push back against Vanya, and the Nightsister pushed the Essence into the woman's mind, not taking away the emotions entirely, but soothing and blunting the edges so the woman would calm down enough to perhaps see some reason.

We can't help him, Millie. I'm sorry. We need to go or we're all dead, she said. She didn't know if the woman had been a soldier, but she guessed not. Perhaps it was callous that Vanya hoped she had seen enough death now to understand the sacrifices of war. It was harsh, but it was real, and the real wars weren't like in the holovids. They were harsh and brutal, and they left their unending marks on your soul.

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra managed to bring down Leggy and hack and slash it until it was left as nothing more than chunks of flesh. Any satisfaction he could have had from its defeat was dwarfed by the multiple sources of scurrying noises he heard. He almost wished he didn’t have the nightvision goggles as they revealed the rows of limbs climbing eerily across the ceiling, walls and floor to charge at him. Ezra channeled the Force and unleashed a push to stall them before he turned and bolted in the opposite direction.

He could spot Vanya and Millie up ahead after a while, “We have to go! NOW!” He called out. He didn’t know what condition Millie was in but he hoisted her up in his arms and began to run. The part Sephi felt panic welling in his chest, already claustrophobic in the tight and dark tunnel and now with an army of headless limbs chasing after them.

“I think the bunker may have been compromised,” He said grimly as he ran next to Vanya. What else could explain these things coming from the direction they came?

They kept running until he could see a massive blockage of debris ahead. In front of it he could make out multiple dead bodies in various states of decay. They all looked as if they had been crushed and the meat had been picked clean. It became abundantly clear that there was no upward incline into the surface and that there had been a cave in. They were trapped.

Before he could consider a plan, he saw a boulder shift slightly from the side of the tunnel up ahead. A figure sprang out and gestured urgently. Not seeing an alternative solution, Ezra unceremoniously shoved Vanya into the new path as soon as they arrived where the figure had gestured. As they all tumbled in, the figure moved the boulder back into place.

Outside, the thunderous stampede of the Leggies could be heard passing them and coming to congregate where the upward incline had been blocked.

Ezra set Millie down and paused to catch his breath, glancing up at the figure that guided them in. The man removed his helmet. Millie was the first to speak.

"Tendy?!"

 

[Vanya]

Ezra didn't strike Vanya as the type to be easily scared by things, so the response to whatever he had seen at the far end of the tunnel told her a great deal about it. He ran back and all but scooped Millie up, and Vanya cast one final, regretful look back at Tank. She started to run and the sounds of goopy, shuffling steps was followed by the quiet, dying moans of the man they left behind, unable to scream through the blood and air that collapsed his lungs.

Vanya felt sick to her stomach, and nearly vomited from the thought, enraged at herself and ashamed of leaving him to such a fate. She should have helped him. She should have ended his suffering... she should have done something. But that still, quiet voice in her mind that was the seat of rationalism told her that it was already far too late for him. She could only save those she could save.

Vanya made no comment as he speculated about the bunker. He was probably right, but her mind was still reeling and she was almost stunned as she saw a new passage open. Ezra had to all but shove her through, and the push seemed to shake her from her momentary shock and snap her back into action.

She rushed inside and turned back to see the entrance close again by some clever contraption: a series of levers and pulleys that Tendy must have devised for himself.

This way, come with me! he said. For Vanya, confirmation that he was a friendly was all she needed. And confirmation that he wasn't a Leggy. They moved through a series of vents, and she moved as quietly as she could, peering through to see the small army of leggies as well as... something else. She supposed it should make sense. If you took all the legs off of people, something had to happen to the arms and toros, but seeing it was more grotesque and shocking than she could have imagined. The sight, the smell, even the sounds they made as if each of them was moaning in pain from their continued existence, hollowed husks of their former selves. She dreaded having to fight such a creature, but even as she looked at it, she knew in her soul that it was an inevitability. She could feel it.

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Their little shuffling took them through vents and Ezra almost gagged as he passed over other chambers. He could see strange creatures and beasts made up of different body parts. As he was powerful in the Force, a few times the creatures perked up as if a dog caught a scent. However, he was always one step ahead, shuffling through the shaft to keep himself moving. The thin sliver of Raze that remained in his psyche wanted to grow stronger here. The darkness all around called to him, chanted to him, beckoned for him to join them. Except it wasn’t done in that cliche way he was warned about with the Jedi, it was far more subtle and insidious. It presented in the form of paranoia - who was Tendy? Could he be trusted? Why was he still alive when so many others had died?

After a while, Tendy climbed down a ladder and the others followed suit. Millie needed help, but even she managed to get down. Ezra could tell she was incredibly suspicious of Tendy, casting him a reproachful look, “You’ve been here this whole time?”

Tendy was silent for a moment. He walked over and grabbed a flask, tossing it over to Millie, “If you’re expecting me to apologize for being alive, you can forget it,” He said icily. When Orlan had described Tendy as an engineer, Ezra had expected a bookish and scrawny nerd that got in trouble and needed help. Tendy looked like he didn’t skip leg day, had full sleeve tattoos revealed as soon as he took his outer jacket off, and an unkempt beard that gave him a gruff look.

Millie stared at the flask but didn’t drink from it, “Why didn’t you go back?”

“I knew the place would be overrun,” He answered, sitting down on a stool, “Orlan and the others never had a chance-”

“Don’t you fucking say that!” Millie snapped, wincing in pain from standing too abruptly, “Don’t you dare. They’re working day in and out to get civvies out safe while you’ve been holed up here saving your skin. Do you know how many people we sent to look for you?”

“I didn’t ask for that,” He said gruffly.

Ezra wasn’t in the mood for melodrama, so he cleared his throat, “Have you found a way up? Orlan mentioned you may have a way to City Hall.”

Tendy turned to stare at him for a moment. His eyes narrowed slightly and he said nothing for a moment, “You look familiar..” He said. Ezra simply stared at him, “The path is blocked thanks to that cave in. I’ve made progress trying to track the weirdo that’s been playing legos with peoples’ body parts,” Millie winced at the reference. Tendy went on nonchalantly, “It’s clear they go up to surface frequently to get subjects and then make these…things at a site of some sort. The problem is a lot of these things block the way to getting to the guy. I think if we find a way to him, we find the source of where and how these things are created.”

And where it could be destroyed. Ezra turned to look at Vanya, “I think it’s best if you and I keep going ahead and track this guy down,” He turned to look at Millie, “Can you lay low here in the meantime? It’s not safe to head back to Orlan right now until we know what happened.”

 

[Vanya]

As Vanya's mind began to clear, she almost gained a vague sense of conflict coming from Ezra. Or perhaps he, too, was shaken by what he had seen. It was more difficult for Force-users to hide their struggles from one another when the empathetic connections partially reverberated to one another. Soldiers could simply put on a straight face and pretend nothing had happened, but Jedi... well, Vanya was discovering there was more to them than just being "soldiers." They weren't called Jedi Soldiers, after all, they were Jedi Knights.

Vanya made no comment on the exchange between Millie and Tendy mostly because Ezra got to it first. She also didn't feel like listening to them bicker, and their turning on each other wouldn't help anyone on the planet. Their unity was perhaps their only chance at retaking anything. That and apparently killing the man or machine that was creating these monstrosities.

Milie seemed to want to object to what Ezra had said about staying here, but Vanya motioned quickly to cut the objection off.

Your arm is too badly injured to fight. Not to mention it could become infected, she said. They'd just been in a sewer, and the black goo had gotten into her flesh. The two things together meant bad outcomes if she wasn't careful and possibly bad outcomes even if she was careful.

Tendy seemed completely disinterested in going with them.

Great, couple ore heroes. You'd be more useful helping me survive here. You wanna be heroes, then at least die bringing back some food for the hideout, he said.

Vanya's teeth clenched in annoyance and the desire to slap him, but she had enough self-restraint to suppress the thought, instead turning back to Ezra.

If we can stop production of these monsters, we could turn this all around, she agreed. It was something worth fighting and dying for.

Let's go, she said, motioning with her head in the far direction of the little bunker. From her guess, that tunnel led back toward the surface, and Vanya couldn't wait to have the potential to get out of this foul smelling horror fest to a slightly better smelling horror fest.

Tendy did them the courtesy of giving them directions to get out, and Vanya set on the way. It was perhaps two hundred meters on that she broke the silence, sensing nothing nearby that may try to eat them.

Are you okay? she asked, a nice open ended question that he could easily shut down with a "yes" and it would be done. She half expected that, but he also would get the sense that he may be subjected to more light, vague prodding if he attempted so brief an answer. She knew that she was shaken, and while dwelling on it was unwise, it also could be necessary for survival particularly for beings who required control of their emotions in order to access the powers that kept them alive. For anyone else, it may have been foolish, but for Jedi such introspection was necessary.

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra kept rubbing at his forehead every now and then as they walked, but he remained silent. He was lost in his thoughts, and Vanya would sense turbulence within him. He was caught off guard when she asked her question, and he first pretended not to hear. However, he knew she wouldn’t drop it so easily when she could clearly sense something was off, “I’m fine,” He lied curtly. The goggles hid his eyes, the ones that started to betray that the dark side was starting to impact him. Why else would he have insisted on Tendy staying behind? That man was bad news. Millie was bad news. They were all bad. He needed to find the source of that power.

Every step towards it made him feel stronger.

“It’s almost impressive..” He said mostly to himself, though within earshot, “Such a powerful expression of the Force,” It sounded odd coming from him. Ezra would never admire such heinous acts, but the tiny sliver of darkness in him was lured to it. It was addicted to it, and it wanted to embrace it fully.

“Do the Nighsisters have anything like it?” Ezra asked, his voice oddly monotone and not like his usual. Though stoic by nature, this was off even for him. He needed to find a clever way to split off from Vanya and find his way to the nexus himself. She had the crudely drawn directions from Tendy in her hands, and he had to find a slick way to obtain it and get on his way.

 

[Vanya]

Me too. Didn't affect me at all, she said, in response to his comment, just a hint of sarcasm and perhaps even joking in her tone. She knew that it had hit her hard, and she knew from what she was sensing there was no way it hadn't impacted him as well. Perhaps it was a way to cut through the tension that was growing without their being able to do anything about it.

It is, she agreed tentatively. It was a foul creation, of course, but she also understood that it took immense power to see it done. To deny that as foul as it was it was astounding would have been a lie.

His voice sounded different as he asked his question, and the further on they went, the more unsettled she became. The more she worried about him and about things she couldn't put to words.

Not quite like this. We generally try to live in harmony with nature instead of violating it, she said. Of course there were exceptions, but the majority of the Nightsisters believed themselves an extension of nature rather than bending it in its entirety to their whim as the Sith.

Ezra, what is bothering you? And do not tell me it is nothing, she said, and as she said it, somehow her accent almost became thicker and her words more stiff. Perhaps it betrayed her own discomfort at the confrontation or something else, but there was no question she would not let it go this time.

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra paused for a moment and turned to stare at Vanya, “The Nightsisters reanimated the corpses of dead Imperials during the battle of Dathomir….how is that any different than what is being done here?” He asked with a deadly calm. Again, it was fortunate that she couldn’t see his eyes. But she would get that unsettling feeling just from the tone of his voice. The galaxy was full of hypocrites. Self righteous beings that thought they did things in the name of justice. But it was all the same, wasn’t it? Always crossing lines and justifying the means to the end?

He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them. Why did he have these hateful thoughts, these powerful thoughts? Why did he feel passion for this topic? Ezra was silent for a long moment, rubbing his head. He stared at Vanya, not seeing her eyes either. But he didn’t need to see them to decipher how she looked at him - as a monster, as the enemy. Hypocrites. All of them.

“Give me the map,” He said quietly, “I think I should keep going. I think you should head back to Tendy and Millie. We don’t want them to kill each other,” Ezra said. Yes, that sounded like a realistic concern. The lie tasted like poison escaping his lips. He always prided himself in his mental prowess, but with this much overwhelming darkness, it was a constant battle with his psyche. His fingers curled into fists and he repeatedly closed and opened his eyes.

 

[Vanya]

Vanya thought about what had been done during the battle and she thought about whether her sisters in the Singing Mountains would have condoned it. She thought they might have, she had been raised among the Shaman of her people and communed with the dead. Was it so different? She felt it was but she doubted he would see the same. She also didn't think that he sounded like himself.

Maybe that's not acceptable either. The fact that that is questionable doesn't make this right, she said, feeling herself becoming defensive. She took a deep breath in (and immediately regretted it based on the scents that hit her nose) to calm herself, and took a moment to become centered.

Her initial thought was that this was about her. He didn't trust her because of her heritage, but that didn't mesh with their earlier conversation. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew there was no chance of leaving him down here alone.

Kriff that, I'm not leaving you alone. We're partners and for this mission, you're stuck with me, like it or not, she stated in the most Vanya way that she could. It didn't escape her notice that he had yet to answer her question, and it only further reinforced her assumption. There was conflict. Perhaps he was second guessing if they could bend this power to the Jedi's purpose, but Vanya knew that wasn't true.

Seemingly out of the blue, she changed the topic entirely, pressing on without handing over the map. Why did you join the Jedi? she asked. It was partly out of her own curiosity, but it was far, far more to bring his mind back to focus on who he was, what he had committed to, and (perhaps most importantly) why he had chosen this life. Of course it might not work, but if it did, she would be practically breaming with pride over her cleverness, naturally.

 

[Ezra Thorne]

There was a spike of rage as she refused his request.

Make her. Make her obey. Obey. You are more powerful. You can overwhelm her.

Ezra began to raise his hand slowly, and it would appear as if he were struggling against an unseen force. Vanya began to feel the Force slowly coil around her neck. Ezra’s movements were erratic, and he was clearly fighting against it. He did not want to do this, and he was struggling, “Van…Vanya I’m not…Vanya run from me..” He whispered hoarsely, avoiding looking at her. His other hand grasped the hand that was attempting the choke, yanking it to the side to slam it into the wall behind him. The pain surged through him and he knew it would bruise, but it broke the focus of the choke.

However, her question reverberated through his mind. It played over and over again. Why did he join the Jedi? It was such a simple question, but it was the perfect one. It reminded him of all the doubts he had felt. It reminded him of Zathria and what she saw in him. It reminded him of his friends that stood by him through everything. It reminded him of the day he vanquished Raze in his mind.

It reminded him of how he always operated alone and how that was never the answer. How he never had to be alone. He joined the Jedi because it meant he was never alone.

“Vanya..” He said as he suddenly grasped her hand with his, flexing his bruised fingers, “Find me,” He said simply before he collapsed down to the ground. He withdrew into his mind to lock himself in. However, he left the back door open to allow her into his thoughts. He made himself vulnerable so she could find him in the realm of the Force and see exactly what this place was doing to him.

 

[Vanya]

Vanya was more than a little surprised when the Force began to wrap up around her from him, and she took a step back as she coiled the Essence around herself in an attempt to stave off a grip. Her foot slid back in expectation of conflict, but he batted his own arm away. She suddenly understood. She had been around the darkness of those of her Sisters in the other clans. She knew its call, but she didn't know what he was going through. The temptation was different for each person.

She couldn't see his eyes, but she didn't need to. Somehow she could see into him with different eyes, and when he abruptly collapsed down with a declaration to find him, her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open slightly. To her credit, her reflexes were quick and she lunged forward to catch him, practically crushed under his much greater bulk as she half-eased him, half-dropped him to the ground on top of her. She slowly extricated herself and her mind started racing.

Okay, okay, okay, she muttered. Panic threatened to set in, but she pushed it aside, allowing herself a single moment to breath and simply exist. There was no future, there was no past, there was only herself and the Essence that suffused her.

When her eyes opened again, her face was set with stony determination. She peeled off her goggles again and lit the small area with her orbs again and set to work carving marks into the ground with her saber. Protection from anything coming upon them, and a focusing point for whatever Light energy there was left on this world.

She moved over and slid into a sitting position, resting his head in her lap as she closed her eyes and focused her energy. Wisps of green rose around them, enveloping them in a strange green fog as she let her mind dive into his. She had no idea what she would find inside, and she knew she probably wasn't going to be ready for whatever darkness was there, but she knew that she wasn't going to let him face whatever it was alone.

They were partners, and he was stuck with her.

 

[Ezra Thorne]

It wasn’t as dire as when he had been in the Mortis realms, but the nuances were similar. She would see a calm, peaceful world when she ventured into his mind. He never allowed anyone here, but he also knew it was the better alternative to attacking her. He knew he could overwhelm her if the darkness took full control, and he wouldn’t allow that.

Vanya would find herself on a beach, the sounds of the waves crashing against rocks resounding everywhere. The air had the fragrance of flowers and the salt from the ocean, and it almost felt real. However, details were blurred around her, and she would know this was a stream of consciousness instead of a real place. Up ahead in the distance she would see an island with a pitch black vortex swirling above it. It slowly began to get bigger and creep into the waters to contaminate it like black tar. She would know right away that was where Ezra was trapped and overwhelmed.

 

[Vanya]

Vanya hadn't known what to expect when she "stepped" into his mind, but it wasn't this. This was calm, peaceful, and serene. It wasn't the mind of someone who had nearly just throttled her or closed himself off from the world around him in the most literal sense.

She bent down and ran her fingers through the sand at her feet. She could have almost reclined back and taken a load off, but the world was blurry. Everything around her was just a little out of focus and yet somehow familiar like a sense of deja vu. It was a reminder that this wasn't real, and this was simply someone else's mind. Someone else's peace.

Her eyes followed the lines of reality that blurred everything around her except the blackened island in the far distance. It was cut off from anything else, isolated but now threatening to spill over its confines and poison everything it touched. She knew that it was locked away inside them all, and some had better barriers than others, but she couldn't help noticing that it seemed... larger. As if it wanted to be free with greater intensity than seemed... normal. But who was to judge what was "normal" in a case like this? Probably not Vanya, the Nightsister-Jedi.

I'm coming Ezra, she said quietly. She had no idea if it made a difference to shout or say nothing, but she promptly pounded ahead. She would make her way to the island by whatever means necessary. Whether she had to split the "water" with the Essence or she found a boat, she would make her way across to the swirl that nipped at her.

It was cold. It seemed to suck the heat right out of her mental-body and she could see the chill of her own breath in the air. She would brave it until she saw any sign of her friend.

 

[Ezra Thorne]

She would find that the world responded to her whims - Ezra had opened his mind to her after all. The oceans parted to allow her passage, leading her to the island that hummed with darkness. The darkness began to take shape, however, and form into a beast.

The darkness formed into a monstrous shape and began to slowly move towards Vanya. It threatened to consume her and devour her while she was here. It had already begun to feast on Ezra’s mind and it would destroy anything that stood in its way. The darkness was the permanent sliver Raze had left behind and it only grew more powerful when seeped in the alchemy that surrounded it.

As it drew closer, she would realize that the shape was Ezra himself. She had to find a way to break him out of what he had been morphed into.

 

[Vanya]

Vanya crossed the water like it was nothing. The place they inhabited, she now understood, wasn't just his mind anymore. It was both of their minds in a mold, flowing together and interweaving in ways that Vanya had never experienced before.

As she came out onto the island and saw the flaming demon in front of her, she started to back up, her jaw clenching. It took a few moments for her to realize just what she was into and she turned and started to run. If this mind was both of theirs, then she was neither alone nor was she without recourse.

She reached her hands out to either of her sides as she ran. She reached into the ground itself as she felt the flames at her back. It wasn't her power that would drive back this darkness and she wasn't the one who would or could break this spell over him.

Instead, she reached out to the depths of Ezra's mind. She pulled at the strings of him that still made him Ezra Thorne instead of the demon of hatred. She pulled pieces of him out and as she did - as he felt the pull back toward Light - he would also see the faces of those he loved and cared about. Perhaps it would be Dash or Leon, Zathria or Ferrin, Theia or Jayna... it was difficult to say who would be there waiting for the pieces of him that were plucked free from the demon. What was certain was that Vanya was there, and the piece of him that was raging toward them was still there.

As that piece of him stood there, he would begin to see other marked faces of Nightsisters. Women he wouldn't know but who he would somehow know were every bit as important to Vanya as those who appeared were to him. Real or not, spirits or not, they were the memories of those who had planted the deepest seeds of Light in their hearts.

Ezra, I can't do this without you. This isn't just your mind or mine. It's our mind, and if we aren't together, we are nothing, she said. She had once feared and wondered how the Light could ever stand against Darkness. The Dark Side was more powerful, no matter what the Jedi might try to say. Long histories of single Jedi defeats at the hands of single Sith told that story well enough, but they were always driven back into darkness by the combined force of the Light. Unity was its strength and isolation was the darkness's weakness.

 

[Ezra Thorne]

The beast bared its fangs, opening its jaws to consume Vanya in one fell swoop. However, Vanya didn’t budge from where she stood, speaking not to the beast but to Ezra trapped inside. He saw Dash, he saw Leon, he saw Zathria, he saw his parents, his twin. He fought and clawed towards the end of the tunnel that he saw in the distance.

Externally the beast smashed the ground and the water around it turned to lava, threatening to spill over Vanya. The earth quaked and fissures streaked through the ground beneath Vanya’s feet. He began to see the other Nightsisters all gathering alongside Vanya. None of them were faces he recognized, but they stood with her nonetheless. But none could fight against the overwhelming presence of darkness, of the mark of Raze.

He saw the fleeting glimpse of a figure walking behind the rows of those that stood before him. He was just out of reach, the monster standing in his way. But he could see the rows of figures. That one shadow arrived when Vanya felt her weakest, when she felt as if all hope was lost, when she felt exhaustion beginning to take over.

And then he saw them. Golden eyes.

Theme​

Renfry wasn’t gone, not truly. She existed in the beasts, the trees, the breeze, the air, the earth.

He saw the familiar smile and he watched her hands come together to form complex gestures. He felt the darkness flinch and budge. The only thing the beast had ever feared.

She was all around them- a free and liberated queen of her domain.

There was a surge of green from her palms as she finished the gestures.

Free from the chains Raze had put on her, free from the burdens of expectations, free from her self doubts, free from all of it.

The green blast struck the beast and there was a thunderous cry. The outer shell of the beast cracked and disintegrated, the oceans coming back to life and sweeping the two back to shore. If Raze could cross into the Force and manifest in Ezra, why not the love Renfry had felt for Emryc and every extension of him? It was something Ezra or Vanya may never understand, but it was there nonetheless.

In the end of it, they were both yanked out of the realm of his mind, liberated once more.

Ezra gasped as he realized he had collapsed against Vanya. His eyes flew open and looked to Vanya, practically tearing the goggles off her face. His heart had been pounding against his chest. He expected to see those eyes again, but they weren’t there. It was Vanya. His breathing slowed. Vanya wouldn’t have understood the sudden surge of strength or where it came from, but she would know she was able to liberate him.

The part Sephi stared into Vanya’s eyes for a long moment, his thoughts far away. An almost sad smile tugged at his lips. The fleeting thought left as he shook his head before he looked at Vanya again, “Thanks..” He muttered quietly, handing her goggles back, “This place messed me up…”

 

[Vanya]

Vanya was caught up in something that she quickly realized she didn't understand. As if she were a child caught up in a war between two titans, and it made her feel so small. But it also showed her that there were things that stood against the evils of the galaxy.

The being that appeared to stand against the darkness of the demon was both familiar and so different. It filled her with a sense of deja vu like a half remembered dream. Both familiar and so different. As if Dathomir itself had come to stand at her back, and yet it felt like something or someone else she had once met. Someone who had once brought up such strong feelings of opposition. A being who no matter how much she tried to place, she couldn't seem to remember.

And she was Vanya. That strength was within her and flowing through her to stand against the waves of darkness. Vanya felt a connection to Dathomir like a pipeline of pure energy flowing through her every vein. She poured it into the beast ahead of her and drove it back, flashes and wisps of green mist and water covered her in a disorienting slurry.

The next thing she knew, she was shoved back into her own body with almost-painful force. and Ezra was turning and tearing the goggles from her face. For a moment, Vanya thought that he was still mad with whatever this place had done to him, and wide, lavender eyes stared back into his.

It became immediately apparent amidst the dim green glow of the orbs over their heads that he was himself again, and a sad smile tugged at his lips that left Vanya more confused than anything.

She glanced down to her hands that had just moments ago produced a power that she had never before experienced. Never even come close to experiencing. It was a novelty, and she could only assume that it was simply a production of the dream. But some dreams were a reflection of reality or mirrored the future.

I... she said, but no words came. It was one of the few times that she was truly speechless. No other words came out and she reached up to rub a hand across her face.

We're together, was all she ended up saying. In her own mind it made some sense and was connected, though the words seemed probably out of place amidst this place, it was spoken from a place far deeper than her mind. There was little bonding that ran deeper than that of shared trauma.

For a moment, she simply sat there, recuperating her mind and regaining her strength. She felt still confused, but pushed herself slowly back up to her feet.

She nearly suggested they had back and leave this place, but she knew that neither of them would be able to live with themselves returning empty handed. Not after the blood had been spent to get them here. They had to either see this through or see to it that they would enable the next people to pick up where they fell short.

We should find somewhere to rest, she said. It was only prudent at this point. They'd run ragged since arriving, nearly been killed, and then nearly been shredded in their own minds. Pressing on would risk them being killed, and then they would be of no use to anyone.

We can pick up the trail tomorrow, find the production point, and then... if we can't get to it ourselves, call in... our brothers and sisters, she said. The words felt weird. Ever since coming to the Jedi, she had never truly felt one of them until now. But now, she shared scars with them, and somehow things were different. Sometimes a day made all the difference.

 

[Ezra Thorne]

He almost protested the idea of taking a rest during a crisis, but his entire body felt shaky. He slowly rose to stand, walking with her down the corridor. There wasn’t exactly a place to rest from the looks of it, but a glance at the map implied there was a maintenance room somewhere nearby. They found it without too much fuss and Ezra used his saber to cut through the lock, stepping inside. Miraculously the light still worked, attached to a backup generator.

Ezra found a chair and sat down, glancing over some of the technical consoles he saw. From the looks of it this was a control room for water treatment. Based on how well maintained the equipment was, someone had been coming here from time to time even until recently. Ezra could only hope it was just Tendy.

“You’re…not going to ask me about what happened?” Ezra asked after a moment of silence, looking at Vanya. He had almost choked her earlier and she dove right in to save him without a fuss. There was a pang of guilt in his chest, but he was mostly surprised she didn’t recoil from him or give him a wide berth.

 

[Vanya]

Vanya felt exhaustion cling to her every limb and despite the adrenaline that was still pushing her forward, she still felt like her limbs were ready to give out beneath her.

When they finally managed to make it to the safety room, she plopped down against one of the walls and leaned her head back, though he would note she didn't sit right next to him. Perhaps that was nothing or perhaps it was her own caution around him now.

I am, but that corridor wasn't an appropriate place, she said. It seemed that being direct and pragmatic were two qualities in her that served her well at some times and cut her off at the heels at other times.

Do I need to worry about you more? That you'll strangle me if I fall asleep? she asked. It was no doubt a cutting question, but one that he likely would have expected from her.

You stopped yourself. You locked yourself away so you didn't hurt me. Everyone faces temptation, and the conversation we're having would be very different if you had given in, she said. That was at the crux of it all for her. He faced temptation and there was darkness in him, but there was darkness and temptation in all of them. What mattered most to her was what he had done with that temptation. He would start to see that although the trust had been strained, it wasn't broken.